Chapter 4 and 5 of Sam Quinones’ “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream”

Chapter 4 and 5 of Sam Quinones’ “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream” were pretty interesting. The book continues to detail the relationship between Mexico and the United States. This book is continually presenting thought provoking real life scenarios that force the reader to reevaluate views on the lives of people in Mexico.
Chapter 4 of the book details how the velvet painting came to dominate walls in homes throughout the 1970s. This was before my time. I found it interesting that at this point in time people actually took these painting seriously. I also never realized that so many of them were hand painted. When I read this fact I instantly thought better of the velvet painting. The most compelling thing about this chapter is the economic dominance that the velvet painting industry had on these boarder town communities. Large percentages of the population were making a living as painters. Eventually supply overtook demand and prices dropped. This coupled with the dominant political group’s taxation and sales restrictions eventually lead to the end of the velvet painting age.
It’s a shame that the industry died. I would guess that there were some beautiful artworks from this era lumped in with pictures of Yosemite Sam simply because of the velvet medium. I’m not a fan of the velvet painting, but I love the idea of communities being supported by art. Regardless of what you think about velvet painting you have to concede that the creators were skilled. It is a tragedy that all this skill has been forced into other professions. These people should be heralded as artisans. Should a student present this as a family tradition we must let them know that they should be proud of this past.
Chapter 5 of the book returns to Delfino. It is the story of his crossing the desert to reach America. The story is from the Coyote’s point of view and it offers an interesting take. I have never seen a Coyote in this light. I actually found myself admiring Diez (the Coyote). Too often they are portrayed as exploitative evil people, when I would assume that many are like Diez. He is a flawed character. He does charge a large sum of money and he is doing something illegal, but at the same time he is offering a necessary service and seems to care about the people he is leading through the desert.
This story is not without tragedy. One of the members of the group dies and the others very nearly die. It just goes to show how difficult the route that many people take to come to America is. It is hope that drives them through one of the harshest terrains on the planet. The thing that I liked best about this story is that the author doesn’t present us with his opinions of what is right and wrong, but only points out the sacrifice and struggle of seeking a better life.